


Nurture Teaches What Nature Can't

by PaleNoFace



Series: Smeet Army AU [5]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, Dib Has Issues (Invader Zim), Idiots in Love, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Non-Graphic Smut, Older Dib (Invader Zim), POV Zim (Invader Zim), Pre Smeet Army Era, Self-Discovery, Sex in Space, Tall Zim (Invader Zim), Zim Also Has Issues (Invader Zim), Zim Has a Praise Kink (Invader Zim), Zim Is Working Through Some Stuff, Zim is Bad at Feelings (Invader Zim), Zim is gonna crumble if Dib gets hurt by anything else than him, i really don't know how to tag this send help, it"s not graphic but it's definitely there, maybe ???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:27:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23954566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaleNoFace/pseuds/PaleNoFace
Summary: Dib sometimes says that true love is to be learned ; Zim thinks he might be too much of a coward to learn properly, but he'll be damned if he isn't trying.
Relationships: Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Series: Smeet Army AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658659
Comments: 10
Kudos: 105





	Nurture Teaches What Nature Can't

**Author's Note:**

> can't really tag this as nsfw if no-one's at work. anyway it's not a "dicks out" kind of fic but definitely don't read this next to your grandma or your younger sibling.
> 
> EDIT : uh. oops ? guess who forgot to copy-paste a part of this mess ? me. it's back in order now, hopefully.

Zim isn't sure when he started having a sex drive. It's a strange interrogation, he supposes, especially for an Irken. Although Zim is everything but a regular Irken, so the question still stands.

He remembers sex ed class in Hi Skool, remembers feeling thoroughly disgusted by the whole ordeal, and wondering if humans genuinely liked getting wet and sticky or if Mrs Bitters was just fucking with him. (She was, but not on this particular topic, to his greatest dismay.)

He remembers congratulating himself and the entire Irken race for getting rid of instincts so vile and _needy_ while watching half his classmates get into intense tonsil-licking contests, shoving tongues down each-other's throats and--

Yep. That was definitely NOT something he would like to try with anyone, like, ever.

_Or so he thought._

Because right now Dib's lips are like incandescent branding all over his skin, dragging broken gasps from his mouth. And Zim, a little as revenge, a little out of curiosity, tugs at dark strands of messy hair- at which Dib positively _whimpers_ , a throaty sound that makes something preen inside of the Irken, because _he's_ the reason of this noise, the source of that amazing sound that he obviously cannot live without now that it has been discovered.

Dib digs his nails into the meat of Zim's legs in retaliation, drags them down until they reach the knees and almost laughs when Zim mewls, muscles tensing under his grasp - not in displeasure, clearly.

Zim nips his ear, a warning, or maybe a plea, neither of them really knows.

It's not the first time - it definitely won't be the last. They're good at this game, tugging and pushing, fighting for the right to set the pace. Sometimes Dib lets him win when he's in one of his phases, because Zim is less freaked out by the world when he's just a little bit in control. And sometimes Zim lets him win because Dib needs to prove to himself every now and then that he CAN and WILL pin the Irken down onto the nearest surface available.

Not literally. Thank _Irk_ , not literally. Zim has enough vivisection nightmares for a lifetime.

But that's not the point.

The point is-

The point is...

What is the point again ?

The point is that a long time ago the mission turned out to be fake, Dib turned out to be a clone, and somewhere along the way they managed to make a truce, make up and agree to play nice, apologize for years worth of trauma, for being downright murderous bloodthirsty assholes to one another, and somehow, for a reason Zim still can't totally figure out, somehow reach the point of mutual forgiveness.

(Not that it stopped them from fighting to the death two days later, but whatever. They had their moments.)

Anyway.

Then the whole PAK thing happened and Zim gained twenty-three inches in a year, and it made him so bursting at the seams with a happiness he didn't even know he could feel, that he just _had to_ kiss Dib, and-

...Okay, so Zim can actually pinpoint the first signs of this ridiculous situation back to the PAK Tinkering Episode™. In hindsight, it makes a lot of sense that toying with _his fucking life support_ would have activated a whole bunch of things that were more or less purposefully out of commission in his body. Like his growth. Or his reprogrammation logs from previous re-purposing sessions with the Control Brains. Or, and we're back to the previous point, his newfound sex drive.

And honestly. It's not like it was anything noticeable at first. A little spark in his spooch that one time Dib ended up in a fist fight with a sewer rat-people and _won_. A needy pang in his chest whenever he'd get into his one of his clingy mood swings and Dib would spend the day holding him like he would a very confused koala. A tingle spreading on his lips when Dib would pull his bloodied shirt over his head in one swift movement and use the momentum to kiss him. And just- as a general note, he's very, very receptive to any kind of prize. Like, a honest-to-Irk " _You did a good job !_ " sends his pulse skyrocketing so fast it's not even funny.

Little things like that.

He starts to notice, for real, when he becomes aware of the _craving_. The constant need of positive attention, Dib's attention preferably. The need to be close, always, and seen, and encouraged- even after a particularly nasty fight, where Zim would drag Dib back home to fix the fragile human bones that _he_ broke, and they would still not talk because they're both pigheaded _as fuck_ , and they would curl up on the couch sulking, but at least they would be sulking _together_ , until one of them - usually the one who started the fight - would apologize quietly and that'd be the end of it.

So. Really, it's not much of a surprise when make-out sessions in Zim's lab become a habit - even less surprising when they evolve into something more interesting (anatomically speaking, Zim has to admit that he's learned more about the human male body in the last few years than he did in an entire decade of going native).

It isn't much of a surprise either when a cryptid hunt in the woods results into a whole bunch of conspiracy articles about a new, VERY vocal creature in the region, that Dib has to shamefully debunk all around the internet.

Or, again, when Zim breaks into Dib's rented apartment when he's away on an internship to complete his PhD, and Dib has to stutter an apology to his supervisor, but absolutely _can't_ for the life of him explain why he went missing for a week, and why he's now coming back covered in bite marks.

And then there's the plutonian mining site. _Aka_ where they are right now. Shoving their spacesuits out of the way as they stumble back into the piece of garbage that is their spaceship because Zim can't seem to keep it in his _fucking pants_.

Not that it seems to displease his mate all that much. And Zim is nothing if not a people pleaser.

And Zim, as they're lying on the floor, still tangled up witch each-other and trying to get their lungs back under control, has the taste of three little words rolling on his tongue - his first words, truer and more precious than anything he owns. He's not ready to share them, not quite yet, but he knows these words are for Dib to hear someday. When he's ready.

It's okay, though. It's good enough for now. He knows where his loyalty lies.

(Dib sometimes says that true love is to be learned ; Zim thinks he might be too much of a coward to learn properly, but he'll be damned if he isn't trying.)


End file.
